A project that will eventually bring apartments, shops and parking just steps away from Wrigley Field began Thursday — one in a series of game changers for a North Side neighborhood in the shadows of the ballpark.

Demolition teams have moved in and are starting to tear down a series of buildings along a stretch of Addison Street between Sheffield Avenue and Clark Street. The wrecking ball will also take down several structures just south of Addison, on the east side of Clark Street.

Gone will be the buildings — just across the street from the ballpark on Addison — that housed a Starbucks, 7-Eleven and other businesses; even parking lots, used by hawkers selling souvenirs on game days, in that area will disappear. More buildings will go, too, south of Addison, on Clark, that housed the ImprovOlympic, Goose Island, Mullen's and other bars.

The 2-acre site on both streets will become a single development known as Addison & Clark, where 148 luxury apartments, roughly 150,000 square feet of retail space and a 400-space parking garage will go in. The development will be built around two longtime businesses that aren't budging: Sports World merchandise shop on the corner and its neighboring auto repair shop.

The development is part of a continuing remake of Wrigleyville. Depending on who you ask, it's either a much-needed face-lift that will bring amenities to residents and offer attractions beyond baseball season or it's a reinvention that could wring the character out of area.

Indeed, the aesthetics are already changing in the area, with the Ricketts family, owner of the Cubs, in the midst of putting up a building for offices as well as meeting and retail spaces on a parking lot adjacent to Wrigley Field. To the west, across Clark Street, the family has bought up the land where a McDonald's once sat in order to build a hotel.

The Addison & Clark project alone could establish this part of the Lakeview community as a retail destination, giving it a more cosmopolitan vibe, said Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University.

"It's exciting for Chicago. It's been a long time since we've had something this holistic or ambitious outside of downtown if you look at everything together," he said.

And it could help the cash-strapped city government.

"Chicago is a city that needs some development energy right now. This helps broaden our city's tax base. It allows more people to experience living near the lake," Schwieterman said.

No doubt, there's a trade-off, he said.

"The consequence or one of the realities is the old Chicago feel of Wrigleyville is fading away," Schwieterman said.

Changing the look, feel of a neighborhood

A hodgepodge of shuttered buildings — mainly one and two stories — will come down to make way for the Addison & Clark development, which will be a taller, more uniform, property with sleek, street-level storefronts, plenty of windows and a gray and brown color scheme.

It was a convenient, easy-to-find meeting spot, an affordable alternative to overpriced...

A joint venture of M&R Development and Bucksbaum Retail Properties LLC, the developers were drawn to the site because of its proximity to the iconic ballpark, said Tony Rossi, president of M&R Development. He said it will provide some conveniences to the neighborhood and make it a destination even in the off-season.

"It's going to provide some additional parking. The whole thrust of our property, we're trying to have it where it provides more year-round amenities to the neighborhood and places to go do things as opposed to (just) the baseball season," Rossi said.

Despite being at the doorstop of the CTA's Red Line, the shops in particular will generate vehicle traffic on game days and nongame days, Schwieterman said. The project will have parking for tenants and customers, which will be a relief from having to circle the neighborhood to find a parking spot. But could it mean more cars in an area that's already congested on game days? Rossi said the traffic impact on game days probably won't be noticeable when thousands already descend upon Wrigley Field.

Adam Rosa, 38, who lives in the neighborhood, has mixed feelings about the development. On one hand, he welcomed amenities like a new movie theater to the neighborhood to help diversify the area so it's not just full of bars.

"Hopefully, it's going to draw more folks to Wrigleyville on nongame days and nonweekend nights when it's pretty quiet," said Rosa, president of Hawthorne Neighbors, a community group for residents and businesses between Belmont Avenue and Addison Street and Clark Street to Racine Avenue. He said he thinks it would increase the vibrancy of the neighborhood, put more eyes on the street and generate more business for local establishments.

On the other hand, he criticized the design as a monolithic structure that fails to capture the character and feel of an urban streetscape. He's also concerned that more parking spaces will encourage more people to drive to the neighborhood, especially on game days.

Also top of mind is which businesses will move in, because that will define the neighborhood's character. While some chain outlets already have set up shop in the neighborhood, there's a concern that only chains will move in.

"My fear is it's a 7-Eleven, Walgreens and Potbelly and something like that, just really generic suburban commercial tenants," Rosa said. "People move to the neighborhood for a unique environment. Just having the same old restaurants you can get anywhere else and only attractive to people who want to stop in to a get a Coke before the game doesn't really do a lot for the neighborhood."

He's not alone. At one point six years ago, thousands joined a Facebook group called "People Against the 'Malling of Wrigleyville'" in opposition of the project.

When the cost to rent retail space is high, it's typical for big businesses that can afford it to move in, said Euan Hague, professor of geography and director of the Sustainable Urban Development graduate program at DePaul University. "One of the things we often see with this type of development is a reduction in locally owned businesses and an increase in more corporate national chains," Hague said.

Soaring rents?

With rents for Wrigleyville housing starting at $1,200 a month for a small, no-frills one-bedroom apartment, new developments also could drive up prices.

The new units billed as "luxury" apartments follow the trend of building luxury rentals versus condos as millennials are delaying home ownership, Hague said. Depending on what those units could fetch, other landlords might decide to raise their rents as well, he said.

The market at the time the apartments are ready for tenants in two years will dictate the rent, Rossi said.

One new apartment development set to open in the fall on Cornelia Avenue down the street from the Addison & Clark site is commanding prices starting at $1,800 for a one-bedroom and $2,600 for a two-bedroom, according to Maurice Ortiz, director of operations at Apartment People. That's priced above the neighborhood average of $1,400 to $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,700 to $1,800 for a two-bedroom unit, he said.

Older units are getting rehabbed to compete with newer buildings, he said. "Landlords are really stepping up their game. Rents are going to be higher because they'll pass the cost along to tenants," Ortiz said. And the demand is high for rental units, and especially in Lakeview, the popular community area that encompasses Wrigleyville, he said.

When the changes will be most evident

After demolition is completed this summer, construction will start, but it'll be months before anything pops up above ground, Rossi said. A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for Aug. 4, and the project is expected to be completed in summer 2018.

That's a lot faster than the decade it took to get the Addison & Clark project from conception to demolition and construction. It was hit by delays, ranging from a plan to build a hotel that was eventually scrapped to foreclosure suits that needed to be settled before getting control of the site.

When it's completed, the plan is to have commercial space on the first three levels with a multiscreen theater and fitness studio. The building will also have a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartment units and a fourth-floor rooftop deck. Heights of the buildings vary, with the tallest point being the apartment building at 93 feet tall, not to exceed the Wrigley Field roofline, Rossi said. He would not disclose the project's cost.

Beyond that project, the Ricketts family has been busy with its own development projects inside and outside the ballpark. Next to Wrigley Field, a six-story office and retail complex is under construction on the triangular parking lot adjacent to what will be a year-round open-air plaza — a recent point of contention regarding alcohol sales. The Cubs are planning to build a two-story annex with retail and entertainment space also on Wrigley property, at the corner of Sheffield and Addison, part of a $750 million investment to upgrade the ballpark and surrounding area.

The family purchased land across Clark Street, where a McDonald's once stood, and is working to build a boutique hotel affiliated with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

The new developments could create a bigger domino effect, according to Hague. Other property owners in the area could face increased pressure to sell, making way for more high-density projects, he said. It has the potential of pushing the neighborhood toward becoming a more well-defined entertainment district centered on the ballpark, as seen in other cities like Denver and San Francisco, where going to the game is just part of the entire fan experience, he said.

In San Francisco, for example, the Giants are behind plans to turn the parking lot near its waterfront stadium into a mixed-use development with housing including some affordable units, parks, commercial space for shops and restaurants, parking garage, office space and a home to Anchor Brewing Company spread out over 28 acres.

"What we're seeing is how people consume sports is changing," Hague said. "The game is an anchor event for a longer-term tourism and entertainment experience."